


Casus Belli

by melagan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 12:42:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5829382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melagan/pseuds/melagan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Apocalyspe_kree prompt :<i> Finding another working Atlantis Class Cityship should've been a great thing, but it wasn't. It really, really wasn't.</i></p>
<p>They can't save the Earth but AR-1 are big damn heroes when it comes to saving the rest of the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Casus Belli

**Author's Note:**

> None of the main characters die but it is an Apocalypse fic so please read accordingly.

~*~

Col. John Sheppard knew the flurry of debris flying through the air should have caused him some serious injury. Instead, it slid off his shield and fell harmlessly to the ground. He looked down to see his body surrounded by a glowing, pale blue light, proof that whatever Rodney had done to augment the personal shield device, it was protecting him from the ambient radiation too. If nothing else, it served as a reminder for him to hurry and he quickened his pace. None of them had any idea how much the PDS could handle before it burned itself out. 

Shoving aside his shock and sorrow, John grimly got down to business. The broken, desolate remains of New York City loomed around him and it was clear there was nothing left to salvage. Nothing left and no one alive to rescue, but he'd known that before he got here. This was where Earth's destruction started and he needed to find out how, why, and if Lemuria could be stopped before any more inhabited planets were destroyed. 

Not John, nor anyone else, saw this coming. Yesterday he and his team had all been together lounging on the south pier of Atlantis. The mood was good, and the weather promised to be another sunny San Francisco day, just like a hundred others. 

Teyla asked about taking Torren to visit a typical Earth fairground. They were in the middle of teasing, the conversation devolving into who could come up with the most ridiculous fairground ride, when the call came in. 

O'Neill's abrupt command to launch Atlantis into orbit ASAP had John and everyone else scrambling. There hadn't been time to recall any personnel. John had to trust that someone else was handling that part of things. Otherwise…. 

He hefted the Ancient spectrometer in his hand, making sure it was on. The device was compact, weighed less than a pound, and, according to McKay, would take every reading the Ancients could think of plus an extra couple that McKay had thrown in for good measure.

John carefully walked around the rubble and made his way to the edge of the harbor. He didn't have as far to walk as he would have two days ago. When the Ancient city erupted from where she lay buried deep under the harbor, the destruction created a new shoreline. Manhattan, which had been sitting right on top of it, had been the first to go.

Near the edge, the ground rose up in glassy shards. The temperature here had reached volcanic levels of heat. John had no idea how, or why the extreme temperatures hadn't vaporized the Ancient city as well. That was on the list of things Rodney hoped these readings would reveal.

No one was talking about losing their families, not yet, the shock was too fresh and they were focusing on trying to survive. Right now, Atlantis hid in the shadow of the dark side of the moon, remaining cloaked while Rodney kept her power signature as low as he dared. They were running life support in the tower section and that was about it. He hadn't even let John take a jumper to the surface, insisting John use the newly installed ring transport instead. 

It made sense not to wave Ancient tech around since the Lemuria was actively searching for it. At least, O'Neill seemed to think that was the case and he knew far more about this stuff than John did. What information they had came from Dr. Jackson, relayed via O'Neill. It wasn't much beyond the city's name and it's preference for targeting Lantean tech. Bottom line, they couldn't use Atlantis as a lifeboat until they eliminated the threat. And that little message had been the last they'd heard from the General. 

"Ronon! Come to check up on me?" John asked, silently cussing himself out for being so lost in thought he never heard the transport rings. Bad move. Just because there weren't any signs of life didn't mean the place wasn't still dangerous. 

"McKay wants to know how it's going. He wants you to hurry." Ronon's shield glowed around him the same color as John's. His gaze traveled across the landscape. "Looks worse than Sateda. Damn Ancients."

John raised a brow at that. He'd rarely heard Ronon swear in English, but if ever there was a time for it…well – he couldn't disagree. He'd always assumed finding another Ancient city would be a good thing. Dangerous, yes, but dangerous the way Atlantis was for them, where ignorance was the enemy and not because the city was flat-out trying to kill them. "Has he been able to dig up anymore in the database about Lemuria? Like a way to blow it straight to hell?"

"Teyla's taken over the search. McKay's working on something else."

John knew 'something else' meant Rodney was working on the ZPM, the sublights, or weapons. They were so shorthanded it was probably all three. The fact that Rodney sent Ronon to fetch him instead of sending a radio message didn’t bode well, either. "Do you think it's worth trying to climb down in that hole for another scan?" John peered over the edge and really hoped the answer would be no.

"No time. McKay's antsy about something and sent me to get you. We need to go now."

No radio contact and rushing through the scans, two things John knew Rodney hated. With a sharp nod, he followed Ronon over to a patch of smooth ground. Seconds later, they were back on Atlantis. 

John stepped away from the transport ring and handed the spectrometer to the nearest scientist. That Rodney wasn't here to meet him and snatch the device personally from John's hands only added to his unease. 

Before the attack, almost everyone had gone ashore leaving just a handful of people on Atlantis. John's team, one civilian, six scientists with projects they couldn't or wouldn't leave, Cadman and two other marines. It came down to fourteen people and the city's resources to beat this thing. Unless Rodney had an ace up his sleeve, it wasn't going to be enough.

John found Rodney in the ZPM room. "McKay, tell me you found something so that we don't have to keep playing hide and seek."

"I can't. Lemuria is still trying to hone in on anything with an Ancient signature. I can tell you, and you can take this as good news or bad, we can't detect any human life signs on Earth."

"You think O'Neill was able to get people away in time." John rubbed his hand over his face, suddenly weary to death. Because however many it was, it was nowhere near enough. 

"Between the spaceships at his disposal and the Stargate, yes I do. At least I hope so. They wouldn't have had long but O'Neill was always one to have something in place in case things went FUBAR." 

John didn't need to ask if anyone remained at the SGC. The Stargate had drawn the Lemuria straight to them. All that remained of Colorado Springs was a deep hole in the ground. 

Rodney motioned for John to sit and handed him a power bar – some weird McKay version of offering comfort. He took it and braced himself for bad news.

"We have to leave. Earth's core is breaking apart and in a few days there's not going to be a planet left." John would never forget the hollow echo in Rodney's voice when he quietly added, "There's no one here left to save."

~*~

John sat in the control chair and accessed the data stream he'd need to fly Atlantis. "McKay, we need more power."

"I'm working on it. Radek…." Rodney swallowed thickly. "Radek had a plan to tie in the jumper engines to the lift sequencing during take-off. Since we don't have to break free of a gravity well it should give us the extra power we need long enough for you to get us into hyperdrive.”

"To think, I always thought finding another Ancient city would be a good thing. What the hell happened?" John dug his fingers into the chair's gel pads. 

"Teyla has a theory and it's as good as any we have right now." Rodney talked to John over his shoulder, his eyes never leaving his work as he swapped crystals around. 

"That crazy city-ship trying to kill us is older than Atlantis. So old, the Ori fraction hadn't entirely split away and achieving Ascension was still a new idea."

John sat up straight in the chair. "The Ori are behind this?" 

Rodney shrugged. "Whether it's a delayed Ori plan or whether some old program got reactivated, it certainly explains why it's targeting anything Ancient.”

"And destroying anything in its path to do it." John sank back into the chair. He didn’t need his eyes to know they'd finally reached full power. 

"Decoy away." Rodney announced. "You have a sixty-second window to get us out of here."

John knew. They'd gone over the plan enough times – he still hated sacrificing one of the jumpers this early in the game. He kept one sensor on the jumper as the autopilot flew it to the opposite side of the Earth and dropped its cloak. 

The last thing he saw before they hit their hyperspace window was the tough, little jumper being blasted into pieces. "McKay! Sixty-second window my ass!" 

Rodney ignored him. "We made it." He was staring up at the display hovering above John's head.

~*~

They stayed in hyperspace for two days. John kept a watchful eye on everyone. Teyla helped, but the real surprise came when he realized just how good Kanaan was at counseling the survivors.

Maybe it had to something do with the way he brought Torren everywhere with him, his innocent baby smiles a reminder that they still had something to live for. Or, John mused, maybe that was just him. Then he remembered Rodney's soft expression when Torren lifted up his arms to be held. Yeah, so not just him. They were about a million miles away from ever being all right but at least they were moving forward.

"Sheppard! We have to go back!" Rodney yelled, running up to him.

"Slow down and explain." John tried to sense if something was wrong with his city. She seemed fine but something wasn't right because Rodney was standing in front of him, red-faced and trying to catch his breath. 

"We forgot about the McKay-Carter gate bridge. The Midway station was destroyed but the other gates…."

"Are going to be a trail of breadcrumbs that Lemuria can follow straight to the Pegasus galaxy." 

"I wouldn't have worded it quite that way, but yes. And when it gets there it's going to go after every planet that has a Stargate on it and burn them into oblivion just like it did Earth - we need to go back right now."

"So we go back. And then what?" He knew Rodney was right, but they needed a plan.

"I have a plan," Rodney said.

"Let's hear it."

Hands moving almost as fast as his mouth, Rodney laid it out and John found himself nodding in agreement.

"Atlantis is the largest piece of Ancient technology we have. Lemuria won't be able to resist chasing us to back to Earth. Now, our planet is on the verge of breaking apart as it is. All we need to do to hasten it along is to beam a Mark V or two into the Earth's core."

John turned and starting running towards the chair room. It was a brilliant idea, a McKay scary brilliant idea. If they could time it right and get the Lemuria to fly close enough to Earth, then it would be caught in the dying throes of an exploding planet. Ancient or Ori, nothing was going to survive that. But first, he had to get them turned around.

~*~

John gathered everyone in the Gate room. As he explained the plan he and McKay had come up with, he worried about their reaction. There just wasn't any good way to announce that they were leaving relative safety to head back – and blow up the Earth. Not a one complained or crumbled under the pressure. Instead, they made him proud as thirteen pale but determined faces looked back at him with approval in their eyes.

Afterwards, he pulled Rodney aside to iron out their plan. "I want you to get Cadman and Ronon to work on the bomb. She's our explosives expert and Ronon knows a thing or two about massive destruction. I need you to focus on beefing up the city's shield. I don't care where you find the power, just - find it. I'm not risking losing Atlantis in the explosion. Get anyone you need to help."

"We're running out of time, Sheppard. We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in just a few hours."

John clapped his hand down on Rodney's shoulder. "Then I guess it's time for you to pull another miracle out of your ass."

In the chair room, John kept one eye on the time. He was counting down the final ten minutes before their drop out of hyperspace when Rodney barreled through the door. "Cutting it a little fine, aren't you, McKay?" 

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Impossible takes a little longer, Sheppard, or did you forget that already?"

"Funny." John turned serious. "What have you got for me?"

"We found enough power to keep the shields at full power for six minutes."

"That's not enough time."

"It's plenty of time. Cadman only needs a few seconds to beam the bomb down to the Earth's core so all you have to do is draw Lemuria away from the gate bridge and get it to follow us back to Earth. Just stay out of shooting range. How hard can that be?"

It was possible but John didn't like it. "What's this for?" He took the PSD Rodney handed him with an uneasy feeling. 

"To get the extra power we need, I have to shut down life support for four minutes. You get one because you'll be in the chair. Cadman gets one because she's going to detonate the bomb from the control room, and the rest of us are going to hole up in one of the jumpers and use its life support system." 

Rodney pulled a length of cord from his pocket and cleared his throat. "It's likely we'll lose gravity for a couple of minutes. The personal shield will protect you from any loose debris but since the chair doesn't come with seat belts I have to tie you in." He held up his hand. "Don't say it, I've already heard all the kinky bondage jokes I can take from Cadman. 

"Okay." What else could John say? Besides, they were out of time.

She was beautiful, powerful, and responded to John's thoughts like a dream, but flying a city was nothing like flying anything short of a brick. Aerodynamic she wasn't. There were a couple of moments where he was grateful for the rope and the PSD but everything else happened too quickly to do anything but concentrate on flying. 

Lemuria was drawn to Atlantis like bees to honey – if the bees had forty-foot fangs and a ray gun. Suddenly, it was over. The evil, corrupted city was gone, its broken pieces mingling with the last remnants of the Earth, both now shattered dust motes drifting on solar winds.

~*~

"Damn, it worked." John was still stunned they'd managed to pull it off.

"Of course it worked." Rodney lifted his cup and saluted John. "I never doubted it."

John wasn't so sure of that, but let it ride. Hell, his team had survived and they'd saved two galaxies, he could cut a little slack. They were still in the middle of celebrating when Ronon came up and asked, "Now what?"

John glanced over at Rodney who smiled back, already knowing what John would say. 

"Now, we turn Atlantis into a rescue ship. I've had enough of destruction to last a lifetime. How about you?"

Ronon nodded, paused, then cocked his head and asked, "We can still kill Wraith though, right?"

~*~


End file.
